Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

As stated earlier, €9 million will be given to community groups in Britain this year. I can safely say that a greater allocation will be made next year in order to honour our commitment to dramatically increase the funding. As already indicated, that funding has increased 12 times since the Government came to office.

It is not often taken into account that when I was Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, I made changes in respect of pre-1953 contributions. The latter allowed Irish pensioners, not only those in this country but also their counterparts abroad, to gain benefit from stamps they paid prior to 1953. This year alone, €67 million will be paid to 14,000 Irish pensioners under this scheme. The scheme to which I refer has been criticised by the Comptroller and Auditor General since its inception, but I make no apology for it. The pensioners to whom it relates made contributions but did not gain the benefit of them. The vast majority of pensioners who benefit from it are elderly emigrants living in Britain and the €67 million to which I refer will be added to their relatively small British pensions. In my view, that is one of the greatest reasons that the circumstances of Irish people living in Britain have changed dramatically. I accept, however, that difficulties still exist. There has been a dramatic decrease in the number of Irish homeless in Britain, according to a recent report. An official with the Simon Community stated in August that the number of homeless Irish in the six inner-city boroughs had fallen from 600 in 1999 to just 100 this year. He attributed the decrease to the Government's DION projects. He stated that millions of pounds had gone into supporting the Irish to get them off the streets of London and that this has had a very positive impact. He also stated that the Government had done its bit and that the Irish taxpayer had really helped.

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